AU - Locked to Alec

[everymonstrousthing]

It's probably almost as bad as it looks. His cane lost, rolled into a gutter, stepped on, snapped, Kaz has no choice but to limp. He doesn't have a clear idea of where he's going. He turns his head and spits blood onto concrete for what feels like the thousanth time. He's not sure how far he's walked; he glances back but can't tell which direction he came from.

He recognises his surroundings, though. He knows more or less where he's headed.

He makes it to Alec's door. He's got no idea how late it is. He knocks with a curl first, blood smeared on leather, and then his knees give out and he slides down to sit on the floor with his back against Alec's door. He closes his eyes. Darkness comes flooding in. He fights it, as much as he can.

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[deflectere]

Alec didn't apologize. He wasn't sorry. He might feel bad later but he wasn't going to feel bad now. He finished the last few lines of the dark rune before he pulled the stele back and took his hands off Kaz.

He waited. Watched.

[everymonstrousthing]

It burns. Breath sobs out of Kaz as the marks burn into his skin, permanent as a brand. When he broke his leg, when bone pierced skin, it had been Grisha healed but, if it hadn't, wounds would have be cauterised to stop bleeding, stop infection setting in. There's this weird pulling together feeling, of skin meeting skin, fat, muscle. Of knitting together.

And it hurts like bloody hell.

He ends up curled on his side, his chin tucked into his chest, his breath sobbing out of him. He isn't bleeding anymore, but he isn't sure that this is better.

[deflectere]

"It'll get better," Alec said, about as comforting as he could do. He knew the burning might ease but he'd never be the same. Alec had broken the Law, could be stripped of Marks and killed for this but it was gone now.

If Kaz turned into a Forsaken, Alec would kill him and no one would know what happened. If Kaz didn't turn, then...Alec didn't know because he didn't think that would happen.

"You feel any differently?"

[everymonstrousthing]

He lifts his head, eventually, face flushed and tear-streaked, but eyes clearer than they'd been before. He tugs his shirt back into place self-consciously. The brush of cotton against burned skin makes his breath hiss.

"Don't think i'm bleeding to death anymore."

[deflectere]

"Then, the Mark worked," he said though he didn't sound happy about it. He looked stricken, stern and cautious. "You still shouldn't move around too much. It takes time to heal completely."

[everymonstrousthing]

"Don't look so happy about it," says Kaz, letting his head fall back against the floor with a soft thud. "Suppose that means I need to stay the night?"

[deflectere]

"You're lucky I don't have company coming over."

Because that was such a typical thing, Alec entertaining.

"Don't move. Just stay there and if you fall asleep, you fall asleep. If you move, you're gonna make it worse."

[everymonstrousthing]

That makes Kaz laugh. Which hurts. A lot.

"Save my life and leave me to pass out on the floor? Really?"

[deflectere]

"I'll get you a blanket," Alec said, getting to his feet. There was blood staining one hand and covering his floor. He disappeared into the bathroom and washed his hand though the blood didn't completely off.

He came back out with a promised blanket and held it out. "I'm not moving you and I'm not letting you out of my sight."

[everymonstrousthing]

"Going to be down on the floor with me?" asks Kaz, almost teasing, managing a smirk as he lifts his arm, reaching out for the blanket, wincing a little. "I've slept worse places but, right now, none of them are coming to mind."

[deflectere]

"This is my apartment," Alec told him, shaking his head and sitting on a nearby chair. His seraph blade was nearby, unnamed and harmless looking. "I get to sit where I want. You should try and sleep."

[everymonstrousthing]

He does. Sleep. He must because he loses track of himself for a while. When he wakes up, there's pain, deep and throbbing in the skin where Alec burned him. He groans softly.

"Still here," he says.

[deflectere]

"Congratulations," he said dryly. His dagger was in his hand and his hand rested on his knee. "How do you feel?"

[everymonstrousthing]

"Like shit that needs a shower," he says, shifting, grimacing at the way his shirt sticks to his stomach when he moves. "But no more of a problem than usual." his eyes dart to the dagger against Alec's thigh. "You don't need that."

[deflectere]

"You don't know that," Alec said, keeping a hold of the dagger. "I'm not taking the chance. "You're going to be Forsaken. I can't let you out of this apartment until it happens."

[everymonstrousthing]

"So, what?" says Kaz, pushing himself up onto his elbows, wincing when burned skin pulls tight. "You're just going to...keep me prisoner here until the inevitable?" He arches his eyebrow. "Do I at least get to get off the floor?"

[deflectere]

"You're not a prisoner," Alec said, rolling his eyes. "Do you want to leave? You're free to leave. There's more than just me in this city that'll watch you that I trust. Go."

[everymonstrousthing]

"What I want," says Kaz, managing to get himself to sitting position, though it's difficult, leaves him breathing heavier than he'd like. "Is coffee. And a shower. and clean clothes. That's what I'd like."

[deflectere]

"You don't ask for much, do you?" Alec asked, rising to his feet and shaking his head. "Show up at my door bleeding and then ask for food and facilities and clothes."

He could do the coffee, at least. He tucked the knife in his waistband and disappeared into the kitchen to get something brewing.

[everymonstrousthing]

Kaz leans back against the wall. He tugs one glove off with his teeth and then he hitches up his shirt, fabric gone stiff with dried blood. He examines the rune that Alec burned into his skin the night before.

[deflectere]

Alec glanced behind him, wincing at the Mark on Kaz's skin and wondering what in the hell he'd been thinking. He could lose everything for that stupid thing, lose everything for a mundane.

"How's it feel?" he asked, keeping his emotions carefully locked down while he went about making coffee.

[everymonstrousthing]

"Sore," says Kaz, prodding at it cautiously with one naked finger. He's not sure that he's ever felt anything like it, not pain like it. And he has measured his life in pain, hasn't he? "But I'll live."

[deflectere]

"Let's hope so." Alec wasn't convinced. "Get up and get some coffee. I'm not waiting on you."

[everymonstrousthing]

"Your beside manner leaves a lot to be desired," rasps Kaz, his breath catching as he prods freshly burned skin again. "And you're going to have to help me up off the floor. Between this and my knee there's no way I'm getting up on my own." He shoots Alec a flat look. "Sorry."

[deflectere]

Alec scowled but dutifully came over and offered Kaz a hand. His expression was stern but not angry. Cautious. Wary. Worried.

"Did you ever think about going somewhere else last night?" he asked, curiosity taking over the scowl and solemness.